She shuffled left and raised her diet soda as if it would ward me away. “Going where?”
“To get the Zeezy’s.” I plucked the lemon wedge from the rim of her glass. “I was just wondering, because now I see them on my boyfriend’s feet.”
“He’s–I don’t know, I’m just listening.” No, she was playing with fire. Surely, she heard him talk about me.
“You knew exactly who I was when you came in,” I hissed. “You knew I was his girlfriend. Who buys someone else’s man a gift like that?”
She rolled her eyes and turned to dance stiffly to my man’s beats.
“Hey, are you listening?” I snapped near her ears, and she had the nerve to give me a sharp look. “You better stop the charade. And youbetterstop talking to my boyfriend.”
She cocked her head. “Maybe if you treated him better, he wouldn’t be in my DM’s.”
My jaw dropped, my throat prickling with the urge to spit acid.The audacity. Who said stuff like that? I pinched the lemon wedge to spray her face, but it didn’t squirt so much as drip down my fingers, so I chucked the empty husk at her face.
She gasped and pushed me back. Ice flew out of her glass. “Back off, you crazy bitch,” she said.
I yanked her purse strap. “You want to disrespect me again?”
“Whoa, hey, ladies, there’s no need for that,” Theo said over the microphone.
As if I’d listen to him.It was his fault we were in this mess. That backstabbing piece of…
We wrestled amid the pulsing crowd. Bigfoot tried to dump the rest of her drink down my shirt, but I shoved it back so fast I only got a few ice cubes bouncing off my chest. Her boobs got a whole-ass baptism. Karma was a bitch.
She screamed and tried to claw my face. Clearly, she’d never fought before in her life, because even with the room a glossy blur, I was able to dodge and smack her like nobody’s business.She didn’t even go for my hair or my earrings, but I got a good handful of hers.
“Break it up,” Zack barked.
Big, meaty arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me. I was floating. The champion. I raised my fist in triumph. Wisps of extensions poked out between my fingers when Zack carried me to the bar–probably for a celebration. People cheered. Everything was warm and fabulous. I laughed and sprinkled her hair in our wake like a trail of rose petals. No one messed with Nicole–or Nyx–or whoever I was at the moment.
Theo tried to make his way through the crowd. “Hey, that’s my girlfriend. Be gentle.”
I twisted around. “Is that what you told Bigfoot? Because I just handed her ass to her. Might want to give these back.” I flicked the rest of her extensions from my lemon-juice-covered palm. I didn’t need her fake, cheap hair any more than I needed a liar for a boyfriend.
“Babe.” Theo’s shoulders slumped. As if he cared. He even glanced at Bigfoot with a pout on his face like he was sorry she got caught in the crossfire.
“Put me down so I can set him straight,” I told Zack, raising my hands in a fighting stance.
Zack carried me to the front of the bar. “You need a time out.”
“You can’t do that. You’re not my dad,” I said.
He tightened his grip. “If I was, you wouldn’t be dating a guy like that.”
A shiver worked its way down my spine. “What did you just say?” I squirmed and scrunched my brows at him, heartburn flaring through my chest. Why would he care who I dated?
He huffed and hugged me close, his cold nose brushing my cheek. “No more fights tonight.”
Fire spread through my simmering skin. “They started it.” Kinda.
Theo finally caught up to us. “Wait, let me talk to her. I only have until the song finishes.”
Zack lowered me and turned me around, his hands warm on my shoulders. He leaned in, his five o’clock shadow more pronounced than it had been an hour ago. His voice boomed above the music. “You have five minutes. That’s when I’m kicking out the other woman. If I find out you’re fighting in the parking lot, I will shovel snow on both of you until you cool down, got it?”
“Got it,” I muttered, shaking an ice cube out of my top.
He sighed. “I’ll come back with some napkins. Figure out your ride in the meantime, because I have a feeling you’re too drunk to drive.”
